In a recent interview, Deputy Chief of Israeli Mission to India, Rony Yedidia-Clein, stated: “Israel is planning to boost agricultural cooperation with India by establishing so-called villages of excellence to complement the existing ‘centers of excellence’ for specialized advanced farming.”
As part of the bilateral Agricultural Cooperation Project, started in 2008, Israel and India have established an Indian-wide network of state-funded centers of excellence each of which specializes in a specific segment of agriculture and farming, such as vegetables, flowers and citrus fruit, among others.
“The Centers of Excellence which we have in 28 different locations around the country in 20 different states in India ... work with Indian farmers and agronomists in order to develop better ways of growing agricultural produce, and now we will be expanding those into the villages around them," Yedidia-Clein said.
"Within the next few weeks, we will be signing another memorandum of understanding on the subject of cultural cooperation and innovation," Yedidia-Clein said. Urdupoint.com reported that other target areas of bilateral cooperation, as elaborated by the diplomat, include education and business-to-business ties.